Oct. 23, 2012, Chicago — In a statement released Tuesday, Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson urged Minnesota voters to defeat a proposed state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The Minnesota Same-Sex Marriage Amendment, referred to voters by the legislature, would define marriage as between one man and one woman.

Stating his opposition to the amendment, Johnson said, “Just last week, a federal court in New York ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional — and that was the correct decision. Denying committed couples the right to marry under the law is discrimination, plain and simple. While different faiths may choose not to perform or recognize same-sex marriage, the government has no business deciding who should be allowed to marry.

“While as a former governor, I am a staunch supporter of States’ Rights, when it comes to what I firmly believe is a constitutionally protected right to equality, the states have no right to discriminate. I do not agree with President Obama that the federal government should defer to states, allowing them to choose to deny their residents the equal right to marry.

“I hope Minnesota voters will reject this attempt to enshrine discrimination in their state’s Constitution, and urge them to reject Amendment 1.

“As a Libertarian, I believe there is much that government does and tries to do to interfere in our personal lives that it simply has no business doing. I am proud to join with Minnesota Libertarians in taking a stand against discrimination and the idea that government should be imposing moral values on free people.

“I also commend Minnesotans United for All Families for their leadership in opposing Amendment 1. The breadth and width of the coalition that has joined to protect equality is truly gratifying, and I am pleased to join with that coalition in this very important battle.”

Libertarian presidential nominee Gov. Gary Johnson released the following statement in response to Monday night’s debate:

“With only two weeks to go before Election Day, it is more clear than ever that the views and concerns of millions of Americans are being shut out of this campaign by the Republicans and the Democrats. Let’s have a debate not about how much longer to remain in Afghanistan, but about why we shouldn’t bring our men and women home now. No one on the debate stage is challenging the fundamental premise of endless foreign intervention. Rather, we have two candidates agreeing with one another about flawed foreign excursions we cannot afford.

“And remarkably, we heard a continuation of the fallacy that we can somehow balance the budget while spending more on defense. It doesn’t add up.

“There is a candidate who will, in fact, challenge the status quo. But the Republicans and Democrats don’t want the American people to hear from that candidate. Doing so would spoil the ‘two-party party.’”

Libertarian presidential nominee Gov. Gary Johnson
released the following statement in response to Tuesday night's debate:

America's challenges and the crises we face demand a real
debate — not dueling Phil Donahue acts carping at one another over who is
worse.

I defy anyone who watched the debate to identify a plan from
either the Republican or Democrat that will achieve a balanced budget.
Behind the fuzzy math and the quibbling, there was nothing more than a
commitment to continue the status quo — with at most a few minor
adjustments. We don't need adjustments. We need a fundamental
reduction in the role and cost of government, and both Romney and Obama are
fundamentally big-government guys.

We watched a blame game over immigration, while the problem
festers with no solution in sight. We heard quibbling over whose
government plan would have saved GM better, but nothing about why the government
should be bailing out any company at all. And we heard cheap shots
about government-run health care from two candidates who both support it.
Where is the reasonable argument that government shouldn't be running
health care in the first place?

On the attacks in Libya, the debate we must have is not over
what we call it or when; we need a debate over why we were there at all.

There are clear choices in this election, but they weren't on
the stage tonight.

Libertarian presidential nominee Gov. Gary Johnson released the following statement in response to tonight's debate:

We didn't see a debate tonight. We saw two slightly differing versions of defending the Republican and Democrat status quo that has given us war after war after war, a $16 trillion debt, and a government that is the answer to everything.

Nowhere was there a real plan for reducing government, balancing the budget any time in the foreseeable future, or a path that will actually put Americans back to work.

We heard two politicians arguing over which of their plans for government-run health care is less bad. We heard fantasies about balancing the budget while not reducing Medicare costs.

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are nibbling around the edges of the nation's problems. We don't have time to nibble — we need to devour them.

Americans deserve real debates and a voice who will actually tell the truth about what it will take to put this great nation back on track.

Sept. 21, 2012, Saint Paul, Minn. — Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's campaign today filed an anti-trust lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California challenging Johnson's exclusion from upcoming debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Commission announced earlier Friday that invitations to the debates were being extended only to Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

Announcing the campaign's legal action, senior Johnson advisor Ron Nielson said, "There is nothing remotely surprising in the fact that a private organization created by and run by the Republican and Democratic Parties has only invited the Republican and Democratic candidates to their debates. It is a bit more disturbing that the national news media has chosen to play the two-party game, when a full one-third of the American people do not necessarily identify with either of those two parties.

"American voters deserve a real debate between now and Election Day. By excluding Gov. Johnson, the Commission on Presidential Debates has guaranteed that there will be no one on the stage challenging continued wars, calling for a balanced budget now — as opposed to decades down the road, and who has never advocated government-run health care.

"Someone has to stand up and call this what it is: A rigged system designed entirely to protect and perpetuate the two-party duopoly. That someone will be the Johnson campaign. We are today filing a lawsuit in Federal Court charging that the National Commission and the Republican and Democratic Parties, by colluding to exclude duly qualified candidates outside the Republican and Democratic Parties, are in violation of the nation's anti-trust laws.

"It is unfortunate that a successful two-term governor who is already assured of being on the ballot in 47 states and the District of Columbia is forced to turn to the courts to break up a rigged system, but it appears that fairness is not to be found otherwise."

Johnson's running mate and retired California Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, who is also a plaintiff, will argue the motion on the campaign's behalf.

The lawsuit, filed only hours after the Commission's announcement, charges that the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee and an organization they set up, the Commission on Presidential Debates, have conspired together to restrain trade, both in ideas and in commerce. The lawsuit maintains that the Republican and Democratic Parties, through the CPD, indefensibly limits access of other candidates to the marketplace of ideas and the opportunity to be employed in these highest offices in the land, and in so doing are violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890.

The lawsuit seeks an order of the Court enjoining the debates from proceeding unless all candidates who will appear on the ballot in enough states to win in the Electoral College are allowed to participate.

Nielson said the Johnson campaign would likely file additional lawsuits in additional jurisdictions challenging the exclusion of Johnson and Gray from the debates on other grounds.

Prior to 1988, the League of Women Voters sponsored nationally-televised presidential debates. The League withdrew its debate sponsorship after the Republican and Democratic campaigns negotiated an agreement to determine which candidates could participate, who would be panelists, and other details of the debates. The League withdrew its support for the debates because "the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetuate a fraud on the American voter."

Sept. 14, 2012, Santa Fe, NM — Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson will team up with Gov. Jesse Ventura, Judge Andrew Napolitano, and political satirist Kennedy at New York University Tuesday for Gov. Johnson's "Rally for Jobs, Opportunity and Diversity." The all-star line-up will speak at the event, which will be held in the Rosenthal Pavillion, 12-2 p.m.